Steeves'
Summary #27:
Knock,knock...."Come In! "
January 2006
Mike and I would be the first ones to tell you we weren't given the
gift of hospitality. On the Spiritual Gift Inventory, hospitality ranks
somewhere in the middle of the scale. In other words, our strengths are
generally in other areas. Mike and I will also tell you that the whole
idea of dorm parenting seemed to be a misfit to our personalities since
we are generally quiet, private people. The circumstances led us to
become dorm parents, so we trusted that God would help us to become
more hospitable.
I have received a few emails from friends asking me what a typical day
as a dorm parent is like. I have been procrastinating to answer that
question because we haven't had a "typical day" yet! We do see the
students at times when parents would see their children during a
regular school day. Weekend activities vary quite a bit. They can be
the most challenging busy times and once in a while they are our
quietest days. One thing that stays consistent is the door is always
open!
I wake up the girls, then we see them before class, during lunch hour,
after school, after supper and most of the evenings right until
bedtime. They sometimes come to chat, need some advice, fix a minor
health issue or emotional upset. They may want to do some baking in our
kitchen, buy food from our duka, play a video game, watch a movie, or
may just want company as
they read their book. Not only is the door open 24 hours a day to the
dozen girls, their friends and siblings come to visit. Parents often
show up any time of the week and need to chat or need somewhere to stay
for the night. As our outside door remains open most of the day, the
two year old neighbor, Micah, makes his grand entrance into our
apartment at least once a day to visit with our children. Even cats and
dogs from the station make their way into our apartment from time to
time. What a different life we have here! Only with God's grace we
could have taken on this role.
Blankets
As mentioned in our last newsletter, the blankets have arrived! We've
donated a few of the quilts to the RVA Student Health Services. Head
nurse Lillie was so excited to see the quilts, truly convinced that the
extra color will make a difference to the recovering students of RVA.
Two local women who work in the infirmary have helped us know the need
of three families in the Kijabe area. Thanks to them, 2 families of
AIDS orphans living with their grandmothers and an unemployed family
with a disabled child have warm blankets at night. We've made initial
contact with a small orphanage nearby who are connected to the
Bannisters, former RVA missionaries. Parents of one of our dorm girls
will be delivering more blankets to an orphanage in Tanzania that looks
after infants and toddlers. Staff from Bethany Crippled Children's
Centre will be coming by soon to pick out blankets for their facility.
We are not short of connections here and it is quite exciting to see
how things are unraveling!
A
Note from Mike
The day after our last
newsletter was "Titchie Water Field Day". Every
January, during
the warmest, driest time of year they have a day of water games for the
elementary school. This very dry year, everyone was wet
before
the games began! It rained all day, a very unusual occurence
for January. One day of rain isn't going to change the
drought situation, and many people are going hungry.
Excerpt
from CBM "World at Your Door", January 2006
«
Humanitarian catastrophe threatens 5.4 million east Africans as
perpetual famine struggles for attention on a crowded world stage. The
UN World Food Program calls for immediate food aid as estimates of
people affected increase at an alarming rate.
CBM,
through The Sharing Way, is responding with US$20,000 of
emergency relief funds to help with distributions of maize, beans,
rice, and oil.
To
donate via mail, phone or web, please specify:
The Sharing Way - Emergency
Relief - Kenya/Rwanda Food Aid
Mail:
The Sharing Way
7185 Millcreek Drive
Mississauga, ON
L5N 5R4
Phone:
(905) 821-3533
Online:
1.
Go
to www.cbmin.org
2.
Click on Donations.
3.
After logging in, choose EMERGENCY
RELIEF.
4.
Choose Relief
- Kenya/Rwanda Drought from
the drop-down list. »
Bernadine,
Michael,
Julianne and Evan
You
can see our previous
newsletters on our website
at
www.kijabe.org/mission2005
 |
Michael
and Bernadine Steeves
P.O. Box 80
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
phone: 011-254-20-32046-101
cell phone: 011-254-735-317094
steeves@kijabe.org
www.kijabe.org
|
 |
Africa
Inland Mission
1641 Victoria Park Ave.
Scarborough, ON
M1R 1P8
(877) 407-6077 (Toll Free)
www.aimcanada.org
|
